HOF and Mouth

Of the two four-letter, sometimes-capitalized bands that were up for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, one of them made it. But it wasn’t KISS, the fire-breathing hard-rock-lite outfit which is well into its fourth decade of not quite frightening parents. Rather, it’s ABBA, the Swedish supergroup that generated more than a dozen irrepressible confections. Is this the right choice? Does it make a mockery of rock-and-roll? Does the Hall of Fame itself make a mockery of rock-and-roll? The decision has outraged fans on message boards and reawakened old, somewhat silly debates about rock, pop, sales, artistic legitimacy, and longevity. While KISS, still led by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, continues to tour and recently released a fairly strong late-career album (“Sonic Boom,” initially available only at Wal-Mart), Björn Ulvaeus, one of the original members of ABBA, has claimed that his group, which has been inactive as a recording unit since the early eighties, is essentially defunct:

We will never appear on stage again. There is simply no motivation to re-group. Money is not a factor and we would like people to remember us as we were. Young, exuberant, full of energy and ambition. I remember Robert Plant saying Led Zeppelin were a cover band now because they cover all their own stuff. I think that hit the nail on the head.

Stay tuned for KISS’s reaction to the announcement, and possibly some shots at the Hall of Fame; Gene Simmons has, over the course of his career, shown an unwillingness and perhaps an inability to back down from public feuds (recently he tangled with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails).

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